Finding the Way
by booknerd333
Summary: A recreation of Saving the World and Other Extreme sports, but there's a twist. Two new hybirds are pulled into the picture and maybe they're the key to saving the world.
1. Chapter 1

**This takes place right after SOF. MR will come in the next chapter, this is just an introduction to other characters.**

_Hey, Kit-Kat? You awake yet? _A voice. Brittney's voice. I sat up quickly then BANG!

"GAH!…..ow," I whimpered after banging my head on the top of my crate. Brittney's giggles filled my head. _What was that for?_ I asked her.

_What? _She asked innocently. _You know what_. I said then turned over trying to fall back to sleep.

Ok, just to clear a few things up, I'm Kathleen, but Brittney calls me Kit-Kat. My best (and only) friend is Brittney. We have known each other forever, but not exactly by choice. We aren't like normal people. Brittney and I live in dog crates at horribly sick place called the School. The School is where these scientists do all kinds of experiments on innocent people and animals. Brittney and I are two of those "innocent people".

Our whole 14 year long lives we've lived in dog crates, so you can probably guess we don't get out much.

_I know you aren't really mad Kit-Kat. _Brittney said. Somehow Brittney and I developed a special ability to be able to talk to each other through our minds. We don't know how or why, but it only works on each other. _No, I'm not mad, but I do have a headache now._ I told her.

Then the door opened to the room we were put in. A man that we had never seen before walked in. _Oooh, a new scary scientist man! _I thought to Brittney. Her giggles sounded in my head. _Never seen this one before. Hmmm, wonder what he's here for. Oh, do you think that if he's new we can scare him away like hat other guy? _she asked me. _Let's see if he says anything._ I told her.

"Hello, I'm Jeb Batchelder," the scientist guy said. I eyed him warily. "You both must be the experiments that have caused all the talk."

We didn't say anything. Silence is how we survived here all these years. If you are quiet, you don't get noticed as much. _Should we say something? _Brittney asked. The scientists had no idea about Brittney and I's "connection" we had.

"Ok, I need to talk to the two of you in my office," he said. He let us out or our cages and led us to the hallways and then into another room_. Let's just see what he wants. _I told Brittney.

The room was very plain with a large desk in the middle. On one side of the desk there was a large office chair, which the Jeb guy sat down in. He motioned for us to sit in the two chairs on the other side of the desk. We stiffly sat down.

He then pulled to folders out of his desk.

"I must say, you two have very impressive files. Definitely stuff we could work with," he told us.

Brittney and I are two successful experiments. We are different from any of the others that the School created. Brittney and I were only part human.

Brittney was 95% human 5% wolf, but in a different way from the Erasers. Brittney wasn't vicious in any way. She had much less wolf in her than the Erasers, and she didn't have the desire to kill. All of her senses were enhanced, she was super fast and strong with amazing reflexes.

I was 95% human 5% tiger. I also had enhanced sense, super fast and strong, then cat reflexes. I also had claws. When I wanted to my fingernails could grow to four inches long and extremely sharp.

I didn't know what he meant by "work with" though.

"We have a job for the two of you," Jeb told us. "You both have probably heard about the six escaped experiments. Maximum Ride and her flock. Well, we want you two to find them, gain their trust, and then lead them back to the school."


	2. Chapter 2

_A few years ago the School had a huge problem. The most successful experiments had escaped. Six successful human avian hybrids. Brittney and I heard of them a lot because the scientists talked about them a lot. Sometimes I think that they forgot that we had the capabilities to hear just because we didn't talk very much._

_Now we were supposed to find these amazing experiments. What I didn't understand though was why they chose Brittney and me. When Maximum Ride and her flock escaped we were forgotten. They didn't pay much attention to us, which suited us perfectly fine. We didn't even have to work very hard for the tests that they put us through because we didn't really matter to them._

_I figured that the reason this Jeb guy thought we were impressive was because he had just heard about us or just read our file. _

"_Do we have a choice?" I asked him quietly. Probably not. _Brittney said in my head.

"Well….not really," he said with a look that was apologetic?

"Is there anything in it for us?" Brittney asked.

" Well, if you two are successful, then we will proceed with study and experimentation," he told us.

"So we basically have no choice?" Brittney concluded. He nodded. _Lovely, _I thought to her.

*******************************************

Today was going to be an exciting day! Well, in some ways yes, in some ways no. Today we would get to go outside the School for the first time in our lives. On the downside, the scientists had no idea where the flock was and so we had to start from scratch on finding them.

After a quick briefing (and when I mean quick I mean like four hours at least) they flew us in this helicopter into an area relatively close to where they though the Flock was living temporarily.

There we were left to start our search. _How about we start with a break?_ Brittney suggested after we stared in awe at the forest we were in. _Sounds pretty good to me! _I agreed.

**I decided to wait until the next chapter to put Max and the Flock into it.**


	3. Chapter 3

I just want everyone to remember that this takes place as SOF. And some of the stuff from the third book will be in here.

**Max's POV**

"**No," I said simply answering Fang's question. I loved the word no. It was short and sweet and always seemed to work on people.**

"**Oh come on Max, they would be over joyed," okay, so saying no doesn't always shut people up, but it's worth a try!**

"**No," I repeated. I had no idea why I was saying no. I knew I would give in soon.**

"**It would be best for the Flock," he continued.**

"**Ugh, fine," I said defeated. Fang smiled a rare smile, lighting up the immediate area. I called everyone over. So Fang had the genius idea that we should fine a permanent home. Did I want to? No. I wanted to go out and fight the bad guys and save the world and stuff, but I knew that the Flock would take a permanent home over being on the run 24/7 anytime. **

**So, being a good flock leader I relayed Fang's idea and we voted. Of course everyone was on Fang's side. I guess having a permanent place to stay wouldn't be to horrible, always having a bed and stuff. I guess it was worth a try. I guess you never know until you try! **

"**Max," Angel said coming over and sitting down on my lap.**

"**Yeah, sweetie?"**

"**How come we haven't seen any Erasers?" she asked.**

_**Because they are all dead. **_**The voice chimed in. I hadn't heard from the voice in a while. **_**That's because you've been doing fine on your own. **_**The voice told me. **_**Hey voice, what do you mean they're all dead? **_**I asked. **_**Itex is terminating all of its experiments and now they are coming for you. **_**Ooooh, cue the scary music. **

"**Hey guys, the voice says that all of the Erasers are dead," I told everyone. They all turned to me shocked.**

"**Dead? How are they dead? Aren't there like thousands of them and stuff? How could they just kill all of the Erasers? Does that mean that no one is looking for us anymore or do you think they are making a new experiments to find us? I guess if no one is looking for us it would make it a LOT easier to find a place to stay. I think that we should stay in the mountains somewhere. I love the mountains! They make me feel safe and stuff like no one could ever find……" Iggy clamped his hand over her mouth before we felt the full wrath of the Nudge Channel. **

"**I don't know what it means. But, whatever it is, we will find a place to stay and do whatever we can to stay hidden," yep, that's me, pep talk person. **

**Everyone nodded and went back to what they were doing. I started stroking Angel's hair and soon she fell asleep.l**

"**Okay guys, let's turn in. We have a long flight tomorrow," I said. I hope I sounded like I knew what we were doing tomorrow, 'cause I really didn't have a clue. **

**We all stacked our fists and I soon fell asleep, knowing that everyone was safe.**

**Kat (Kathleen) POV**

**Ah, the great outdoors. Who knew that they were so big? I for sure didn't. They told us that we were somewhere in Colorado, pretty close to Arizona. I wish I could tell you that I knew all of this interesting stuff about the states and the wilderness and stuff, but let's face it, when you grow up in a dog crate your whole life the closest you get to outdoors is hearing people talk about it. **

"**Alright, all of the red areas are the places that they have been before. The yellow ones are places that they are thought to have stayed temporarily," told Brittney. Lucky we weren't just thrown into this job with nothing. The white coats actually wanted us to find them, so we were given maps and paper that had tons of information on them. **

**During the briefing we learned a lot of stuff. I guess that the leader of this hybrid flock, I guess that's what you could call it, has a tracking chip. The chip started to malfunction and only works sometimes, so they are having a hard time locating them. Along with that they are starting to terminate all of the Erasers and various other experiments. We were told that the Erasers were getting too much a mind of their own and that's why they were going, and then all the others were basically useless. **

**Turns out that our reward for completing this task is staying alive. Encouraging, huh? Fortunately we didn't have a time frame or anything, but they did put tracking chips in us. **

"**Okay, it seems like they spend a lot of time in Arizona," Brittney pointed out. We were reviewing the map that showed off the places the flock had been over the past few months. **

"**But they were also in New York a lot too," Brittney said, contradicting herself.**

"**Their most recent sighting was south of Arizona, I think that they left New York pretty quick," I told Brittney. **

"**Good point," she said, pushing a lock of platinum blond hair out of her eyes. We both looked so different that sometimes it amazed me. Brittney was short and petite. She had super long, straight, platinum blond hair and strange navy blue eyes. She had thinner lips and a more prominent nose. Her skin was tan a free of any freckles. We figured she had some sort of a white wolf in her. **

**I, on the other hand, was tall, and even though I was lean I had a sturdier build. My muscles were more noticeable. I had copper hair that was wavy and went to just below my chin. My eyes were almost yellow, but had enough green in them to still look human. If you had really good eyes you could see the slight slant to my pupils. I had full lips, a small nose, and then a splash of freckles over paler skin. Our personalities were as different as our features, too, but more on that later.**

"**Okay, we have done nothing today," Brittney said. "I say we head toward Arizona at a steady pace for a while."**

"**That'll work. We'll run for about two hours, then find a store and get some necessities," I told her. So we packed up our meager belongings and headed off.**

**Max POV**

"**Duck!" Gazzy yelled as he went into a dive narrowly missing a shocked Nudge.**

"**Gazzy! Watch what you're doing, you almost hit me," she yelled at him. He grinned sheepishly. **

"**Come one, let's go into warp drive!" Total said from my arms. He wanted me to use my super fast flying skills.**

"**Sorry bud, not today," I told him. He sighed and Iggy took him. I was glad to see everyone so relaxed. It was hard to believe that just a few days ago we blew a hole in an Itex building. I looked over at Fang and he looked, not relaxed, but less tense. That was about as good as it got for us. I opened my mouth to say something, but then Angel screamed. **

**My head snapped up and I saw, what looked like Erasers flying toward us. **

"**I thought they were all dead?" Fang asked me.**

"**They're supposed to be," I replied, getting ready for a fight. They approached us and we started fight. They weren't Erasers though, or at least I didn't think so.**

" **They're -punch-machines," Iggy told me. I ducked a blow to the head. **

"**Machines?" I asked. Then I hit one really hard, and got a shock. I mean it literally shocked me. "Robots!" I said incredulously.**

"**Yeah, listen," Fang said. I did and heard a faint whirring noise. **

**Then suddenly there was a faint cry, my head whipped around in time to see Angel plummeting towards the forest below us, unconscious. **

**I didn't think, I just reacted. I tucked my wings in and sped like a bullet towards her. I could hear everyone else doing the same. Right above the trees I finally came to her, caught her, and then pulled out of the drop. **

**I was shaking with adrenaline as I looked up in time to see the robot thingies retreating. I jumped gently off the trees and set Angel on the ground. She looked severly injured. **

**I pushed her hair out of her face and Iggy inspected her.**

"**Some broken ribs, possible concussion, broken arm…." he trailed off. I looked over at Fang helplessly. I knew Angel couldn't healed by herself. We need a hospital…..or just a doctor.**

"**I know where we can go."**


	4. Chapter 4

Max POV

"No," this time it was Fang who was saying no.

"It's our only chance," I told him. We were all gathered around Angel's unconscious body while Fang and I debated what to do. I had an idea on how to help Angel. It wasn't a safe plan or smart really, but I had to take a chance.

I wanted to go back to Dr. Martinez and Ella. I knew that Dr. Martinez was a doctor, obviously, but also I remembered what it was like when she healed me. I felt like I was in a real home. Fang didn't think it was a good idea, but he didn't meet them and feel what their home was like. I was so anxious about Angel that I was about ready to take off myself. I had hardly just gotten her back from the school, I did not want to lose her.

"Fang, we have to," I told him, all seriousness in my voice. He looked at me and saw how serious I was. Reluctantly he nodded.

"Ok guys, we need to hurry," I told them, and in record time we were in the sky.

Kat POV

"What the heck is ketchup?" Brittney asked me holding up a red bottle.

"I have no idea," I told her. Brittney and I were at the grocery store, but we had no idea what we were doing. We didn't know half the foods in the store and the white coats told us that this piece of plastic was supposed to buy us whatever we wanted.

"Ok, how about we get anything that sounds familiar," I told Brittney.

"Crackers?" she asked me.

"Sure, why not." So we gathered up anything familiar and went to the check out line. And you know what? The little piece of plastic did buy us whatever we wanted!

After the store we went back in to the woods and packed our stuff up.

"Hey, wait, do you smell that?" Brittney asked me. I stood still and sniffed the air deeply. There was a scent that wasn't supposed to be in the air. It was the smell of people, but it was completely off.

"Yeah, I do. Let's follow it. Quietly," I added. We put our back packs on and made our way through the forest. There was absolutely no noise made by our feet. We were created for quietness.

I noticed it was darkening outside and the smell was getting stronger. All of the sudden there was the faintest light ahead of us. I glanced at Brittney warily. _What should we do? _she asked me, using our telepathic bond._ We'll go a little bit closer, then you circle around the right and I'll go around the left. Make absolutely no noise and shield your mind. _I told her. I made sure my mind block was up, that meant that no one could get in my mind, Brittney couldn't even talk to me.

We inched our way closer to the light and then I circled to the left. That's when I heard very faint voices. I felt Brittney trying to tell me something so I opened my mind to her. _We need to get close enough to see who it is. _She told me. I gave her the okay and then blocked my mind again.

Once I was closer I jumped soundlessly into a tree. I could hear my heart beating as I made my way through the tree to get a better look. I gasped as I saw the people who were gathered around a fire. There were six people gathered around the fire, they all had wings that were slightly extended.

_It's them. _I told Brittney. Digging my claws into the tree, I leaned forward, but I still could not heard them. Brittney and I then met back together and went a safe distance away.

_Oh my gosh, _Brittney said. _It's actually them. I cannot believe that we found them so easily! _

_I know. Ok, we will follow them in the morning, wherever we are going. You can go to sleep first, I'll take watch. _

Waking Brittney up in the morning, quietly, is not an easy task. _Come on Brit Brit you have to wake up NOW!_ I almost shouted. _She bolted up. Finally! They're leaving and we need to follow them._ I told her. She nodded groggily and got up.

The hybrids took soon took off and Brittney and I started to run. Like I said, Brittney and I are hybrids also. But, we can turn completely into the animal that we have in our genes. Brittney can turn completely into a wolf, and me into a tiger, so we did. That's how we ran so long.


	5. Chapter 5

Max POV

It was getting dark and Angel was getting paler. We hardly talked. Even Nudge didn't surpass her over 1,000 word an hour limit. We were all so worried about Angel who was basically a pile in Fang's arms. I knew we needed to stop and rest, but I wanted to fly all the way to Dr. Martinez's.

"Okay guys, we need to land. Let's find a good cave to rest in," I told the flock glumly. They all nodded an we circled around the canyons that we had been flying over. We found a decent sized one and landed, making out makeshift camp.

Iggy started a fire and everyone began unloading food to eat. I walked out to the end of the canyon and found myself a mere ten feet from a ledge that dropped sharply into a much deeper, bigger canyon.

_Remember your dream?_ The Voice asked.

I frowned, not knowing what the Voice was talking about.

_You mean my dream of becoming the first avian American Miss America? _I thought snidely.

_No, your dream that the Erasers are chasing you, and you run through the woods until you come to a ledge. Then you call off the ledge but start flying. And escape._

My breath left my chest with an audible _oof._ I hadn't had that dream since…well, since my dream had been replaced by a reality much worse. How had the Voice known about it?

"Yeah, so?" I said out loud.

_This canyon is very much like your dream. It's as if you've come a full circle._

I had no clue. No idea what the Voice meant. I almost thought I heard the Voice sight, but probably just imagined it.

_You'll see. You'll figure it out. Before it's too late._

_That's comforting, _I thought angrily. _Thanks._

I was then startled out of my reverie by a movement below the below canyon. I peered down, half expecting the flyboys (My name for them, thank you very much!). All I saw was 'dirt and pebbles crap,' according to Total.

I sighed dramatically and made my way back to the Flock, plopping down next to Fang. He was on the laptop, big surprise! I peered over his shoulder at what he was writing and saw how many viewers there were. _Holy Shucks._ I thought, seeing that there were over a million people who knew about our…adventures?

Fang smirked at my expression.

"They find it interesting that we have wings," Fang told me.

"Huh. Too bad they don't know what it is really like," I huffed and crossed my arms.

"We need to find a permanent home," Fang said seriously. I glanced at Angel's form near me. "We can't last on the run much longer. I say that once Angel is better we screw the mission. Let them blow up the world. We can find a place to hide out where no one can find us, and we just…live." I stared at Fang, catching flies, no doubt.

"Rewind a minute _Fangy,_" I said nervously, what was he talking about? "I said we could get a home, not that we just give up the mission! It's our job to save the world."

"Let them blow up the world, and global-warm it, and pollute it," Fang said. "We'll be fine. We were built to _survive_," Fang finished.

"Max! Angel's moving!" Nudge exclaimed. I glared at Fang,

"How about we focus on getting Angel better and then we will have this conversation," I pursed my lips and went to Angel. I peered down at her face that seemed maybe a little paler.

All of the sudden her eyes popped open and her eyes darted around confused. She put her hands to her head, concentrating, frowning at something.

"Angel, sweetie, are you okay?" I asked her worriedly. She shook her head at me and we all waited anxiously. After a minute of torturing suspense Angel explained.

"I…I thought I heard someone else. Two other people."

"What? Is there anyone here?" Iggy asked, his blind eyes looking around.

"I just heard them for a minute, but I don't hear anyone anymore. We're fine," she confirmed.

"We're not fine. Angel, you're really hurt," I told her. She attempted to sit up, but the pain looked too much.

"Ow," she whispered and I was once again so glad these kids were so tough.

"All right everyone, rest up, we're headed off to take care of Angel tomorrow."


	6. Chapter 6

Kat's POV

_Do we everything to start a fire?_ I asked Brittney telepathically.

_Yes sir, _she replied and I glared at her, taking some food out of my backpack. So far we had been on the Flock's tail without suspiscion. For a while there I worried, though because of the canyons. We almost lost them for a while, but luckily we had great eye sight and could spot them. I wondered what they were doing now. I envied them so badly. They were flying free with no worries.

I know, I don't have wings, but I would like to be able to run free without having a working chip in my arm! I think we can all at least hope.

_Hey, this is actually really good!_ Brittney exclaimed, eating something from a package labeled 'Hot Dogs.' At first we didn't want to buy them because Brittney has dog in her and they're called 'Hot Dogs,' but an employee confirmed that they were not actual dogs.

_Give me one_. I took a hot dog and ate it. It was really good compared to a lot things I could think of. I can't even name what they fed us at the school.

_What are our plans?_ Brittney asked me.

_Well, I want to eat, sleep, and then wake up._ I joked, then became serious. _Actual, I figure we wait until they stop somewhere for a definite amount of time and befriend them, then we lead them to the School. Sound good?_

_Yeah. We just can't get too attached to them or else we'll never be able to lead them to the School._ Brittney commented. I agreed to that and kept eating and small talking with Brittney. I soon became aware of a presence in my head. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was a Flock member. I didn't know how, but I knew what she looked like and sounded like.

_Who are you?_ The voice of a young girl sounded in my head. My eyes darted to Brittney's face. She look the same as me; like we got slapped. We immediately put up a mind block.

"Aw crap! This is going to make things so much difficult!" Brittney whispered.

"Ugh. They have a mind reader."


	7. Chapter 7

Angel POV

Angel knew she shouldn't lie to Max, or at least her years of upbringing said she shouldn't lie to Max. But Max didn't see the bigger picture. Max had no idea that there were two girls in the canyon beneath them. She didn't know how important those two were. But Angel did.

Angel knew everything. That what she here for, wasn't it? To know, to see, to observe. At least that's what her voice told her.

She hoped Max would forgive her for everything that was going to happen in the next few months. Like she said, Max didn't see the bigger picture.

Angel smiled to herself, thinking of how great everything would be after the plan was put in action. For now, she needed to sleep. She really was hurt. Her mind might be way past her age, but her body wasn't. She soon drifted off.

Max POV

"Hey," Fang whispered to me. I raised an eyebrow at him. "You want to go for a fly?" Why not? It might help me take my mind off of things.

"Sure." I got up and tapped the back of Iggy's hand twice. Fang and I took a running leap off the cliff and began our flight. We flew for a long time, spreading our wings and practicing the maneuvers we had almost forgotten. It felt so good to be flying for pleasure and not in the "Run away!" type flying.

After who-know-how-long we stopped on a different cliff to rest for a minute. We were silent, not wanting to disrupt the comfortable silence. I hoped everyone was fine. Our cliff was out of the way and unnoticeable. Plus, Angel said no one was around.

"Fang, what are we going here?" I asked him softly.

"We're taking a break. Then, we're going to help Angel," he smiled.

"What about the School and saving the world?" I asked with scalpel-like delicacy.

"We have to quit playing their game," Fang said softly, watching the sky. "We have to remove ourselves from the equation."

"I can't," I admitted in frustration. "I-just have to do this."

"Max, you can change your mind." His voice was like autumn leaves dropping lightly on the ground.

"I don't know _how._"

Then, my throat felt tight, and I rubbed my fists against my eyes. I dropped my face onto my arms, crossed over my knees. This sucked! I wanted to be back with the oth-

Fang's hand gently smoothed my hair off my neck. My breath froze in my chest, and every sense seemed hyper alert. His hand stroked my hair again, so softly, and then trailed across my neck and shoulder and down my back, making me shiver.

I looked up. "What the heck are you _doing?"_

"Helping you change your mind," he whispered and then leaned over, tilted my chin up and kissed me.


End file.
